A last resort. A final, untested technique. Just in case the King of Curses proved too strong to defeat. A chance to save everyone. A chance to finally see him again. And the opportunity to watch the future so that it never happens again. The Strongest Sorcerer now takes his chance to do what he failed to before, and save everyone.
As Blue As The Sky, As Lonely As The Sea
is a Jujutsu Kaisen fanfic by Sarah_R
. A mix of a Peggy Sue and "Let's Watch Our Show" Plot Fic, it focuses on Satoru Gojo having mentally travelled back in time to right before the "Hidden Inventory" Arc after dying while fighting Sukuna. Armed with the knowledge of the future and the ability to show everyone what happens via his Domain, Gojo now seeks to avert that disastrous future from ever occurring, and create a better world for his precious students, and save those he lost long ago.
All spoilers for the Manga will be unmarked.
Contains examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: The impetus of the fic, Gojo dying at Sukuna's hand, happened differently here compared to canon. In canon, Gojo was killed after Mahoraga adapted to his "Infinity" and Sukuna used a slash from "Dismantle" to cut him to pieces, Gojo's death prompting others like Kashimo, Yuji, and Higuruma to enter the fight, while his body would eventually be possessed by Yuta as part of a last resort plan. Here, the battle was more of a stalemate, by which point nearly everyone else was already dead, with Gojo concluding that even had he won there'd be so little left it would be a Pyrrhic Victory, prompting him to kill himself and hope the technique he learned in the Prison Realm worked.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Gojo in canon does care for his students, but his eccentricities make him come across more like One of the Kids, and he does a good job of hiding how much he cares for them. Here, he's more akin to a Papa Wolf, his feelings of care and protectiveness for them being a lot more open after he goes back in time, with him outright calling them "his kids" and calling Megumi his son.
- Demoted to Extra: Thanks to Gojo only pulling in Yuji's soul, Sukuna doesn't come along with him, with Sukuna only really showing up in the viewings themselves.
- Dramatic Irony: Mainly For the Lulz, Gojo tends to try avoiding spoilers with the viewings, even basking in some of their reactions to things they're expecting, the readers of course knowing the same things he knows are about to happen. Gojo is just as likely to avoid telling them something due to not wanting to broach the topic himself though, such as when he's shown having thought about Toji, he deliberately omitted mentioning that Toji is Megumi's biological father, wanting to wait for the viewings to reach the Hidden Inventory Arc so that they can all hear Toji's entire story, compared to incomplete version Gojo knows.
- Everyone Can See It: Anyone who watches Gojo and Geto interact can easily tell the two love each other, especially when they act Like an Old Married Couple.
- Future Me Scares Me: The more Suguru Geto finds out about his future self, the harder he finds it to see himself doing the things he did. Even after learning about Kenjaku having taken over his corpse, hearing from the second years what he did to them horrifies him.
- Generation Xerox: Thanks to being present at the same time, its highlighted further how the Yuji-Megumi-Nobara trio is effectively the second coming of the Gojo-Geto-Shoko trio, many comparisons being made between Yuji and Gojo, Shoko resembling Nobara more but serving Megumi's role amidst the trio in keeping the others in line, and Geto appearing the calmest like Megumi but having a dynamic with Gojo akin to Yuji's dynamic with Nobara.
- Internal Reveal: While Gojo largely tries to avoid spoilers, mainly For the Lulz, he does reveal some elements early, namely Kenjaku's existence, their relationship to Yuji and Choso, Tengen's nature and how they relate to Kenjaku's need for Geto's body, and Sukuna possessing Megumi.
- "Let's Watch Our Show" Plot: Using an aspect of "Unlimited Void" to specifically access certain parts of the infinite information it contains, Gojo is able to show everyone the future, aka the canon events of the series, even pertaining to parts he shouldn't technically know about due to being sealed away.
- Like Brother and Sister: Gojo fully admits he considers Riko to be the little sister he never had. One of the things he wants to do right this time around is save her life while making sure she doesn't have to worry about becoming part of Tengen.
- Loved by All: Quite a few characters end up getting completely positive reactions from the viewers, both to learning about them in general but also getting to hear their thoughts and get better insight to them as people.
- Yuji Itadori is the biggest example. While they know he is an idiot, he's the endearing kind of idiot, seeing insight into his reasoning for being Sukuna's vessel, and learning of his insecurities and that he's burying a lot of pain, everyone quickly becomes protective of him. Watching his emotional breakdown facing the Special Grade at the detention center in particular pains them, seeing just how scared and vulnerable he was, even if Yuji didn't want them seeing it so they wouldn't worry about him.
- Kasumi Miwa quickly manages to claim the hearts of everyone thanks to her being Endearingly Dorky and the only normal person amidst the Kyoto students, with even her being a fangirl for Gojo being seen as endearing to them even if they believe there's No Accounting for Taste.
- Junpei Yoshino is quickly seen as a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds due to his genuinely awful life thanks to his bullies and being manipulated by Mahito, the viewers all sharing Yuji's desire to save him this time around.
- The "future" version of Nanami manages to impress everyone not only with how badass he is, but how acts as a good mentor to Yuji and a comedic foil to Gojo.
- Mama Bear: Kuroi has very strong maternal instincts, owed to effectively being Riko's adoptive mother for most of her life. So when she sees Junpei suffering horrifically under his bullies, she immediately grows attached and protective of him.
- Mental Time Travel:
- The technique Gojo used to travel back in time put his soul into his sixteen year old body during the "Hidden Inventory" Arc. This initially poses a problem as his sixteen year old brain isn't equipped to handle the immense level of cursed energy he developed in the future, causing his body to nearly shut down and leave him vomiting blood when he first arrives, Geto, Shoko, and Yaga genuinely concerned he was dying then and there.
- Discussed regarding the future Tokyo Jujutsu Tech students and Choso. Gojo more accurately pulled their souls into his Domain rather than their entire beings, hence why Yuji is free of Sukuna here. So, while he isn't certain yet, he believes their souls will seek out their younger incarnations once they leave his Domain just like his did. For the most part, they're fine with this arrangement, since it will give those like Megumi, Yuta, and Maki the chance to save Tsumiki, Rika, and Mai respectively, especially after Gojo promises to find a way to get them out of their problematic circumstances and reunite everyone asap. Choso is the only headache, as he's still a Cursed Painting at this point in time sealed in Tokyo Jujutsu Tech, but Gojo plans on finding a way to give him and his brothers human bodies.
- Odd Friendship: Considering how much she hates his future version for nearly killing her and calling her a "monkey", Maki is surprised to find herself become Vitriolic Best Buds with the younger Suguru Geto she met.
- Same Character, But Different: An In-Universe case. The future Tokyo Jujutsu Tech students are caught off guard seeing the past versions of people they know, largely due to how drastically different they are, Yaga being the only exception due to mostly behaving the same. Shoko is more emotive and full of life, Utahime is a lot less mature and unrestrained, and Nanami is much more emotive if gloomy. Geto is the strangest for them, since the second years know him as a genocidal madman who nearly killed them all, but the younger version they meet is a lot more noble and relaxed, Maki even forming an Odd Friendship with him despite being the one who hated his future self the most.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: One of Gojo's main goals from all this is to avert the tragedies of the future, starting by saving Riko and Kuroi's lives and stopping Geto from being Madden Into Misanthropy. He is in turn deadset on making sure everyone is Spared by the Adaptation, bringing in Riko, Kuroi, Nanami, and Yuki into the viewings for that reason, with his future students in turn wanting to save everyone they lost like Junpei, Tsumiki, Rika, and Mai.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Even before seeing him become a Curse User and his mother die, everyone agrees that Junpei more than anyone had all the reason in the world to snap, understand entirely why he'd fall prey to Mahito's manipulation, and want nothing more than to protect him. Gojo immediately adds saving Junpei to his list of things to change and already considers him another of his kids with Geto and Utahime agreeing with him, Maki is able to easily identify with him comparing his bullying situation to her own under Naoya and the Zen'in, and even the more empathetic Sorcerers like Yuta and Geto can't help but feel glad that Mahito killed his bullies.
